Starter.



W171 600 GJ" J. A. WILLIAMS.

STARTER.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 30. I914.

Patented June 4, 1918.

2 SHEETSSHEET l- J. A. WILLIAMS. STARTER.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 30,1914. 1926p419 Patented June 4 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH A. WILLIAMS, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, A-SSIGNOR TO THE K. W. IGNITION COM- PANY, 0F CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

STARTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 4, 1918.

Application filed April 30, 1914. Serial No. 835,358.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH A. WILLIAMS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Starters, of

which the following is a full, clear, and ex-.

act description.

This invention relates to spring starters for internal combustion engines, and especially the engines of motor vehicles, and is an improvement over the starter forming the subject matter of my prior application Serial No. 789,041, filed Sept. 11th, 1913.

The chief object of the present invention is to improve the construction and operation of the starter such as shown in my prior application. More specifically considered the present invention aims to improve the construction and operation, and avoid liability of breakage in the pawl and ratchet mechanism forming the power transmitting means between the arbor of the spring and the starter shaft. Another of the more specific objects is to improve the rewinding mecha nism in such 'a manner as to avoid the liability of breakage in the timing mechanism which forms the operative connection between the parts of the rewinding mechanism, and in reducing the noise incident to the operation of the rewinding mechanism.

My invention may be briefly summarized as consisting in certain novel details of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts which will be described in the specification and set forth in the appended claims.

In the drawings, wherein I have shown the preferred embodiment of the different features of my invention, Figure 1 is a vertical. sectional view through the starter.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view substantially along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction indicated by the arrow. Fig. 3 is a sectional view substantially along the irregular line 33 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction indicated by the arrow, with the subcover removed. Fig. 4 is a sectional View substantially along the line ll of Fig. 1, looking in the direction indicated by the arrow. Fig. 5 is an end view of the starter shaft and of the driving member on the starter shaft forming a part of the rewinding mechanism.

The starter includes a main casing 10 formed of sheet metal parts secured together, and a shaft 11 which is journaled in the casing and extends transversely theretl11OL1gl1,-tl1lS starter shaft being designed to be connected by a suitable coupling 12 to the crank shaft of the engine to be started. The starter as a whole will be mounted at the front end of the motor vehicle, with the shaft 11 in axial alinement with the crank shaft. Within the casing 10 and surrounding the shaft 11 is a spring arbor 13 composed of two or more parts fastened together, this arbor being formed largely of sheet metal. The arbor is provided with bearing flanges which surround the shaft and which extend between the latter and bearing flanges on the front and rear walls of the casing, and it is provided also with an annular hub-like portion which is surrounded by a spiral spring M, in which energy is adapted to be stored for starting purposes, this spring having its inner end secured to the arbor, and its outer end secured to the casing, as shown in Figs. 1 and l.

The arbor is adapted to be connected to the starter shaft 11 for starting purposes by pawl and ratchet mechanism including a ratchet wheel 15 which is secured to the shaft within or between the two side members composing the arbor and by pawls 16 mounted upon pins 17 which are journaled in the said two side members of the arbor. The mechanism for controlling these pawls, that is for throwing them into engagement with the ratchet teeth to secure driving relationship between the arbor and the shaft 11, or to throw them out of engagement therewith, constitutes an important part of the present invention, and this mechanism will be described after the other main parts of the starter have been referred to in this general description of the starter as a whole.

Sufiicient energy will be stored in the spring to start the engine under normal conditions, and as soon as the engine is started, the spring will be automatically rewound, by rewinding mechanism extending between the starter shaft and gearing on a rewinding shaft 18 journaled in one wall of the main casing 10, and in a bearing member 19 supported by a sub-cover or sub-casing 20. The rewinding mechanism includes a driving member 21 which is held by a pin to the shaft 11, so as to rotate therewith, and which is adapted to rotate an eccentric 22 when operatively connected thereto by timing mechanism to be referred to presently, and involving another important part of my invention.

- cover or casing 20, as shown in Fig. 1. The

eccentric 22 is between the driving member 21 and the adjacent wall of themain casing 10 andis mounted upon a cylindrical flange 23 projecting laterally'outward from a member 24 constituting in effect a bear-' ing .hub secured to the adjacent wall of the casing'lO, concentric with respect to the axis of the shaft 11. The eccentric is engaged by an eccentric strap 25 having an upwardly projecting arm 26 which. is osc1llated 'or reciprocated by the eccentric in 'a' wellknown manner, the upper end of the arm -being' pivoted to 'a plate 27, which loosely'engages and has a' bearing on the hub or cylindrical flange of a ratchet wheel 28, which is mounted loosely on the cylindricalbearing flange 29 in which the rewinding shaft 18 is journaled. This plate 27 carriesa spring pressed pawl 30 which engages the teeth of ratchet wheel 28, so

that by the rotation of the eccentric 22, the

saidratchet wheel will he stepped along or turned intermittently. A spring pressed holding-pawl 31 prevents the ratchet wheel from turning in the reverse direction.

The ratchet wheel '28 is loose on its bear-- ingshaft, as before stated, and driving connection is established between this ratchet wheeland the shaft '18 by a clutch member 32, which is connected by a key or feather to the shaft 18 so as to be slidablethere along, but rotatable therewith; This clutch. member and the adjacent face of the hub or body of the ratchet wheel 28 have 00- operating clutch jaws which are adaptedto engage when the clutch member 32 is shift ed toward the ratchet wheel 28. When these jaws are in engagement, the ratchet wheel 28 may turn the rewinding shaft 18, and when the clutch" member 32 is thrown out of engagement with the ratchet wheel 28, as when it is desired to start'the engine, the shaft 18 is free to turn, or the shaft 18 is released so that the spring may rotate the arbor. Therewinding'shaft 18 is provided at its inner end just within the front wall of the casing 10 with a pinion 33 which the spring 14:.

Theclut'ch member 32 is adapted to be shifted along the rewinding shaft 18 by a clutch yoke 35 secured-to a releasingrod 36 which-is mounted for endwise movement in bearings of the-casing '10 and said sub-' casing 20 and atits rear end, thatflis at its end toward the engine, will" be connected *wardthe driving disk 21 when the spring convenient reach of the operator occupyingthe front seat of the vehicle. In this .case,..a spring 37 shifts the rod 36 to the left as the same is viewed in Fig. 1, and A serves to hold the clutch member in looking engagementwiththeratchet wheel 28, and

a pivoted lever 38 which is connected to the rear end of the"rod36i's adapted to shift said rod in the 'reverse direction to 'release'shaft 18. j I v The timing mechanism or the mechanism "which times the establishment of driving re lationship betweenthe disk or driving mem ber 21 and the eccentric for the" purpose of starting the rewinding of the spring, in

-cludesa traveling nut 10,"which is located within and is connectedby'a key or'feather to the'fiange 23 supporting the eccentric, 'andwhich engages the thre'aded'end of a flange 11 projecting forwardlv from the arbor through the forward wall of the casing 10. This nut is moved forwardly to-' is unwinding and movesrearwardly or away from said member, when the arbor is being turned to rewind the spring. After a predetermined movement of the nut 40 in either direction, the nut engages a projection on a driving-finger 42, and thence moves said finger in the same direction that the nut is traveling. Afterv a predetermined outward movement of the finger 42, theend' of the finger'comes into the path of movementof a pin 45 extending laterally inward toward the finger from the disk or driving member 21. This driving member 21 includes a hub having spiral slots46, into which prothe slots 16. 'By'this endwise movement ofv the member 21, the finger and pin 45 will overlap to such an extent that good driving connection is established between the finger] and pin so as to enable the member 21 to effectively rotate the eccentric to rewind the spring. After a predetermined movement pin 45, whereupon the member 21 again moves endwise slightly in the reverse direc I of the nut 40 in the opposite direction, to engages a gear 341, in the form of a periphQ erally toothed ring which is secured to the tion, breaking the" driving engagement be tween'the pin and finger. 7

Ih'a've now described as briefly as possible and consistent with clearness, the,con-.

struction of the starter as a whole, omitting 1 however, detail ed reference to the principal, features in whlch the present invention di-" rectly-resides. These will now be taken up in logical order.

' gage simply the tips of the arbor, and thence two separate As previously stated, a part of my invention resides in the controlling or shifting means for the pawls '16, forming part of the ratchet mechanism between the arbor and starter shaft. In my prior construction, asdisclosed in my application above referred to, the spring arbor has two pawls which simultaneously engagetwo oppositely disposed teeth of the ratchet wheel. This construction, while generally eifective,'occasionally results in breakage of the pawl and ratchetmechanism, because of the fact that the pawls may not engage the teeth fully or deeply, but may, on the other hand, en-

or outer ends of the teeth. If this occurs, the pawls are liable to slip from the teeth and either jump to the next adjacent teeth, or they may fly outward to the periphery of the chamber be thrown inward but before they reengage the ratchet, the arbor may be rotating at such a speed, that when the reengagement takes place, the pawls or the teeth of the ratchet wheel are liable to be broken. To avoid this occurrence, I'provide two sets of pawls 16, preferablyfour in number, mounted on four of the pins 17 and I provide for the purpose of throwing the pawls inward or outward, friction rings having notches into which project from the pins, tongues 51. One of'these friction rings controls two'oppositely disposed pawls, and the other ring controls the other two oppositely disposed pawls. Each of the rings has four notches in which'the tongues 51 extend, but one ring has two narrow notches 52, which are oppositely disposed, and receive the tongues corresponding to the two pawls which that particular ring controls, and it also has two wider notches 53 which are simply clearance notches, and receive the tongues corresponding to the pawls which the other ring controls. I further provide means wherebywhen two of the pawls have full engagement with the teeth of the ratchet, the other two pawls are not quite in engagement with the ends of the-ratchet teeth, asshown in Fig. 4, so that two of the A the event that the once engage two pawls only are efiective for driving, but in two pawlswhich do the driving, simply engage near the outer ends of the teeth, and in the event that they slip from the teeth, the other two pawls will at of the teeth before there material relative movement between the pawls and the'ratchet wheel. The arrangement by which when "two of the pawls engage two of the teeth, the other two pawls do not quite engagethe ends of'the teeth, may be accomplished in two different ways: first, by providing a number of teeth on the is any ratchet wheel which' is not a multiple of;

four, or displacing two of the-pawls slightly from a position midway between the other two pawls. In the present case, the four pawls are equally spaced, and thenumber of teeth is not a multiple of four.

It will be seen that the two friction rings 50 are arranged side by side just outside of the arbor of the spring, and between one of the side members of the arb0r, and the adj acent side member of the casing. Slight friction is placed on the movement of these rings preferably by providing between the rings and the'hub member 24 corrugated leaf springs 54 as shown in Fig. 2.

Another feature of my invention resides in the timing mechanismwhich' controls the engagement between the parts of the rewinding mechanism. It has been found that if the pin or other projecting part corresponding to'the pin 45 of the driving member 21 is rigid with the driving member, and if when the pin 42 is moved outwardly by the traveling nut, the two parts 42 and 45 happen to be in direct'alinement at just the time when the finger 42 is supposed to be moved past the end of the pin 45, the two-parts will engage endto end, and either the finger'carriod by the eccentric or the pin or equivalent device carried by the driving member 21 is liable to be broken. To avoid this danger, I yieldingly mount either the pin 42 or finger 45 and preferably the latter, as shown in this case. In this instance, the pin 45 is secured to the end of a spiral spring 55 which lies along the outer side or face of the drivingdisk 21 and has one end fixed thereto as shown in Fig. 4. The pin 45 extends loosely through an opening inthe disk 21 so that in the event that the end of thefinger 42 engages the end of the pin 45, the latter may yield until the pin 45 passes beyond the end of the finger 42.

A still further important feature of my invention resides in the means for silencing the action of the rewinding mechanism. It has been found that when the rewinding mechanism includes a rotating eccentric, as illustrated in thiscase, which is loose on the member which supports it, and which is adapted to be driven by two overlapping parts, such as the pin 45 on the driving member and thefinger 42 on the eccentric, that when the center of mass of'the-eccentric reaches its uppermost position and starts downward, the eccentric, by"reason o-fits unbalanced'weight and momentum, has a tendency once each revolution to movefaster than the driving pin, with the result'that when the center of mass of'theeccentric is just beyond its :up'permost position, the finger 42 gets a little in advance of the driving pin 45, and thence whenthe pin 45*catchesup with the finger, it causes a-slight' 'knock or hammer blow. This results in a disagreeviates. I avoid this disadvantage in a very simple manner by providing a slight friction or retarding action on the eccentric. I utilize for this purpose a friction device in the form of a disk or plug 57 which is carried by the eccentric strap, and which is held yieldingly onto the periphery of the eccentric by a spring 58, both the disk 57 and the spring 58 being contained Within a tubular or cylindrical inclosure 59, including aremovable cap by which the parts can be assembled or removed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1, In a spring starter, a starter shaft, a spring for, rotating the shaft,1neans for establishing driving connection between the spring and shaft comprising ratchet mechanism including a ratchet wheel and a plurality of sets of pawls, and means for operating each set of pawls by which when one of said sets of pawls is in driving engagement with the teeth of the ratchet, the other is ineffecti ve for driving, but becomes effective if the first set of pawls becomes ineffective.

2. In a spring starter, a starter shaft, a spring for rotating the shaft, ratchet mechanism for effecting driving relationship be tween the spring and shaft comprising a ratchet wheel, and a plurality of sets of pawls, and means for independently controlling the movement of the sets of pawls so that when one of the sets of pawls is moved into driving engagement with the teeth of the ratchet a second set of pawls is ineffective for driving, and if the first becomes disengaged-from the teeth the second set of pawls is moved into driving engagement with the teeth.

3. In a spring starter,--a starter shaft, a spring for rotating the shaft, ratchet mechanism for effecting driving relationship be tween the spring and shaft comprising a ratchet wheel and a plurality of sets of pawls, and means for independently moving the sets of pawls into engagement with the teeth of the ratchet, the spacing of the pawls of each set and teeth being such that when one set of pawls engages the end of a tooth,

the other set of pawls is out of engagement withthe end of a tooth.

4. In a spring starter, a starter shaft, a spring for rotatingthe shaft, ratchet mechanism for effecting driving relationship between the spring and shaft comprising a ratchet wheel on the shaft, a plurality of sets of pawls adapted to be rotated by' the spring, and separate means for positively moving each of the sets of pawls into and out of engagement with the teeth of the ratchet. r

5. In a spring starter, a starter shaft, a

spring for rotating the shaft, ratchet mechanism for effecting driving relationship between the spring and shaft comprising a ratchet wheel and a plurality ofsets of aawls se arate means for ositivel mov-. 7

mg each .set of pawls into and outof-enpawls is out of engagement spring, ratchet mechanism for establishing driving relationship between the arbor and the shaft comprising a ratchet wheel on the shaft, two sets of pawls carried'by the arbor, and separate means for positively moving the two sets of pawls into and outof engagement with the teeth of the ratchet.

7. In a spring starter, a starter shaft, a spring adapted to rotate the shaft, an arbor surrounding the shaft and connected to the spring, ratchet mechanism for establishing driving relationship between thearbor and the shaft comprising a ratchet wheel on the shaft, two sets of pawls carried by the arbor, and separate means for positivelymoving the two sets of pawls into and outv of engagement with the teeth of the ratchet, the spacing of the pawls and teeth being such that when oneset of pawls is in driving engagement with the teeth of the ratchet, the

other set of pawls are out, of driving en- 7 gagement with the teeth of the ratchet.

8. In a spring starter, a starter shaft, a spring for rotating the same, mechanism for winding the spring from the shaft when the latter is rotated by external means, said mechanism including a driving element on the shaft, an eccentric adapted to be rotated by said driving element, said eccentric having a part adapted to be engaged by a I art on the driving member, andmeans by w iich said parts are retained in driving relationship during the winding operation.

9. In a spring starter, a starter shaft, 2. spring adapted to rotate the shaft, mechanism for winding the spring comprising an eccentric, a part rotated by the eccentric,

means for rotating said eccentric, means 0p I Gayle: of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the :Oo'minissioner or Patent Wuhington, I). 0. 

